Randee Smith (Playwright/Finance Director) has been a member since 1985. As a playwright, her work was first seen at EST in the New Voices Series. She is a member of the Playwrights Unit and most recently her play Windowshine was produced in Summer Shorts at 59E59. She received the Virginia Liebeler Award for her play MOM and in 2003 she received several awards for her adaptation of WARRIORS DON’T CRY by Melba Pattillo Beals which she produced with 75 at risk teenagers.

As an educator, she created the Ensemble Studio Theatre’s Institute in 1983 with Curt Dempster. It was one of the first “interdisciplinary” 2 year programs with an enrollment of over 200 full and part time students. She recreated the program for Playwrights Horizons in 1987 and in 1994 the school became an independent producing organization called The 42nd Street Collective. She created one of the most successful after school programs in Connecticut for which she received the 2003 Multi-Cultural Award.